Custom Fields No Longer Visible or Editable on Issues (Web Only)

[jwinn-lgtm]

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Hi everyone — we’re running into a blocking issue with GitHub Projects and custom fields and would really appreciate any insight or guidance.

Summary

Myself and another engineer, working on separate machines and browsers, are suddenly unable to view or edit custom fields on GitHub Issues via the web UI for our project: OpenDigitalAsset (ODA). These fields (e.g. start date, sprint, type, etc.) were previously visible and working without issue.

Notably, the same issues do display and allow editing of custom fields in the GitHub mobile app, which makes the behavior even more confusing.

What’s happening:

• When opening an issue in the browser, no custom fields are shown
• Custom fields are not available when creating a new issue
• The “Type” field cannot be edited and displays the message: “Cannot edit types right now”
• In Board view, custom fields can be toggled on and appear in columns
• However, clicking into an issue does not show those fields, nor allow editing

Scope

• The issue appears to affect only this (private) repository: https://github.com/imageworks/OpenDigitalAsset
• Everything was working fine with the custom fields at the end of December. The issue appeared/was first noticed January 5th.
• It does not occur when creating issues in other repositories
• It does not matter which Project the issue is associated with if the issue is connected to the noted repo, custom fields are missing
• It does not matter which admin user creates the issue
• I have admin permissions on the repository and the projects

Guidelines

• I have read the above statement and can confirm my post is relevant to the GitHub feature areas Issues and/or Projects.

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[nameless-web-master]

This definitely sounds frustrating—and the fact that it still works in the mobile app is a very useful clue. Based on what you’ve described, here are the most likely causes and some concrete things to check, ordered from “most likely / seen before” to “longer shot but worth ruling out”.

---

Key insight from your symptoms

Fields appear in Project board view but disappear when opening the issue itself (web only)

This strongly suggests the problem is not with the Project configuration, but with how the web UI is resolving Issue ↔ Project field metadata for that specific repository.

The mobile app using a different rendering path is consistent with this being a GitHub web UI / feature-flag regression, not a permissions issue.

---

Things that are unlikely to be the cause

You can mostly rule these out already:

• ❌ Browser cache / extensions (multiple machines & browsers)
• ❌ Project permissions (you’re admin, fields show on board)
• ❌ Issue forms YAML (fields missing even when viewing issues)
• ❌ User role / ownership (affects all admins)
• ❌ Project-specific misconfiguration (happens across projects if repo is attached)

---

Most likely causes

1. Issue Types / Custom Fields backend outage or partial disable

The message:

“Cannot edit types right now”

is not a normal permission error. That message appears when:

• the Issue Types service is temporarily unavailable, or
• the repository is in a broken feature-flag state

This has happened before during silent rollouts or regressions.

Why this fits perfectly

• Types field is affected
• Other custom fields disappear in issue view
• Board view still works (board uses cached schema)
• Mobile app still works (different API path)
• Started suddenly (Jan 5)

👉 This strongly points to a GitHub-side regression, not something you broke.

---

2. Repository-level feature flag corruption

GitHub rolls out Projects v2, Issue Types, and custom fields behind per-repo and per-org flags.

Sometimes a repo ends up in a bad state where:

• Project schema exists
• Board can render it
• Issue UI cannot resolve it

This explains why:

• Other repos work
• Only this repo is affected
• Moving the issue to other projects doesn’t help

You cannot fix this yourself.

---

3. Private repo + Projects v2 edge case

There have been prior bugs where:

• Private repos
• Connected to org-level Projects
• With Issue Types enabled

…lose field rendering in the issue UI only.

Again: GitHub-side.

---

Things you can try (low effort, may unstick it)

These are safe and reversible:

1. Temporarily disable and re-enable Issue Types

   • Repo → Settings → Issues
   • Toggle Issue Types off
   • Save
   • Toggle back on

2. Create a brand-new custom field

   • In the Project
   • Add a simple text field
   • See if that appears in issue view

If new fields also don’t show, that further proves backend corruption.

---

What to do next (recommended)

✅ Open a GitHub Support ticket (this is the real fix)

This is absolutely support-worthy.

When you do, include:

• Repo name

• Exact date first noticed (Jan 5)

• Screenshot of:

  • Board view showing fields
  • Issue view missing fields
  • “Cannot edit types right now” message

• Mention:

  • Works on mobile app
  • Happens across projects
  • Only this repository affected

Use language like:

“Repository appears to be in an inconsistent Projects v2 / Issue Types state. Board schema renders but issue UI cannot resolve fields.”

That helps route it to the right internal team faster.

---

TL;DR

• You’re almost certainly hitting a GitHub-side regression or corrupted feature flag
• Your repo is in a bad internal state
• Mobile app working is a strong signal this is not your configuration
• GitHub Support can fix this, but you cannot from the UI

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[jwinn-lgtm]

Fantastic! Thank you so much for the reply! I already have a support ticket opened (https://support.github.com/ticket/personal/0/3994150) - just waiting on a reply there. The low effort things I could try that were mentioned have both already been attempted with no improvement unfortunately.

[ebndev]

Hi @jwinn-lgtm, thanks for being a part of the GitHub Community!

Are you still experiencing this issue?

[jwinn-lgtm]

HI @ebndev - yes its quite challenging for us at the moment. We are still unable to see any Custom Fields for any issue created under the Imageworks OpenDigitalAsset repository. If there are any suggestions on how we might be able to get traction/assistance with the ticket (https://support.github.com/ticket/personal/0/3994150) it would be great - we're not sure what else to try.

[ebndev]

@jwinn-lgtm, sorry to hear you're still experiencing this.

We are unable to assist with nor escalate your ticket however, if we are able to clarify more and replicate the issue, someone from the product team may be able to review if this is an active bug.

Is this what you're expecting to see in your issues and showing more project fields doesn't render anything? Any screenshots you can provide of what's not working and what's expected (maybe from other repos) would be helpful.

[ebndev]

@jwinn-lgtm sorry, it looks like it may be part of a bug that the team was investigating. Feel free to follow along / comment in this discussion for updates. Thank you!

[taimoorkhan-nlp]

Hi @ebndev
We are experiencing the same problem for our project where the custom fields to better manage the issues do not appear anymore. Any help regarding this is much appreciated.

We had few basic fields (text or dropdown) to better organizer the issues in repos associated with the project..
Thanks